Nathan had home MTC for a week, then his family took him to Provo to enter the MTC.
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The goodbyes are hard. |
William recently had his 8th birthday friend party. His mom made him the most beautiful cake, I had to share. Isn't it amazing? - every child's dream cake.
After the temple session, we sat in the celestial room. Across the room from me was a dear man of African American descent. I watched him as he studied his scriptures. He read, scanning the words with his finger. Keeping his finger on that page, he turned to another page, obviously studying a cross reference. He read that verse, then went back to the original verse and read it again. Back and forth, he would flip the pages, studying intently. Soon, he turned to another verse, and on and on. He was truly studying the scriptures. He did this over and over, truly absorbing what he was reading and learning. This went on for quite some time. Then, bending over, he lowered the book between his knees, bowed his head, closed his eyes and prayed.
Fiction Physical Book
I recently
wrote a book that I called “Grandma’s Stories.”
Much like this book, it is a collection of stories from my life. I loved this book and related to it in so
many ways. We also raised three
daughters and have been married nearly 50 years. I loved how he went to each daughter and
asked them to tell him stories that they remembered. What a great idea! This was a tender and sweet book.
I ran away
from home twice when I was growing up. I
was gone less than an hour both times. I
am not sure that qualifies for “running away.”
First, I must say that it was a different world back then. A child could go outside by themselves and be
safe. Not true today. Do not try running away. It is not safe. Running Away.
I can’t remember what upset me the first time. I just remember I was mad and sad and decided to run away. As I headed out the door, I realized I would need some food if I was going to survive for very long, so I went to the fridge. I opened it and grabbed the first thing I saw- a big handful of iceberg lettuce. First of all, iceberg lettuce has very little nutritional value or calories, and second of all, I didn’t even like it. I mean, it’s okay on sandwiches and tacos and in salads, but not just to eat by itself. Not a great choice!
I marched
out the front door. Shermy, my mean
next-door neighbor caught on to what was going on and started teasing me. “Oh
look, she’s running away.” “Look she’s
leaving a Hansel and Gretel trail of lettuce so she can find her way
home.” I turned around and saw that I,
indeed, was dropping lettuce every few feet.
This was not going well. This was
not how running away was supposed to be.
As I remember, I walked around the block. I was tired and the lettuce was stupid, so I
just went back home. That ended my first
running away episode.
The second
was just before my 14th birthday.
I was WAY too old to be running away.
I am so embarrassed by this story that I probably shouldn’t tell it, but
here goes.
Back then,
Avon was a large cosmetics company.
Representatives would come to your home and show you a catalog from
which you could order. It took a couple
of weeks to get the products you ordered. They would give samples, too. I loved the smell of roses. Our Avon lady, as they were called, gave us
samples of their “Roses, Roses” perfume.
I fell in absolute love with that perfume. My mom said she would order me some. I was so excited. I couldn’t wait for it to come. Finally, the Avon lady came and delivered the
order. I asked my mom for my
perfume. She, in the meantime, had
decided she would give it to me for my birthday and she told me I had to wait
for my birthday. I was devastated. I was so sad and so mad. We had a fight about it. But she stood firm that I had to wait. Oh, I was mad. I decided to run away.
This time, I
didn’t do any preparing. I just went out
and got on my bike. My sister, Joan was
very upset that I was leaving and was crying and begging me not to go. I just ignored her. She rode her bike along with me, crying. Her best friend, Cheryl Hart was there,
too. She turned into a news
reporter. “Girl, age 14 runs away from
home. Last seen on her blue bike wearing
pink shorts and a white top. . .”
I had
discovered a tree up on the College of Idaho campus in my wanderings that
seemed like the perfect place to go when one wanted to run away. It was a large pine tree that had grown very
tall and the branches reached downward, forming a “tent” underneath.
I thought it would be the perfect place to
hide and think. I headed for “my”
tree. I parked my bike and climbed
inside. I sat on the cold, hard
dirt. I sat. I sat some more. I was wearing shorts and my legs started to
get very cold. I sat. I sat some
more. I was cold. I was hungry.
I decided running away was stupid.
I climbed out, got on my bike and rode the five blocks home. No one, except Joan, had even missed me. Running away is stupid and overrated.
Oh, by the
way, I did get the perfume on my birthday and enjoyed it for many months
after. I found this picture of the exact
set I got. I kept the box for many years
after, storing things in it.
Ken has two cards in his wallet that he uses most frequently. He always puts the one he just used in front of the other. He recently confided that his goal is to have the temple recommend in front of the credit card most often.
"Everything you'll ever need to know about grace can be learned in the following way: hold a baby in your arms. (Perhaps while the family is out. Perhaps in a chair. Perhaps your own son or daughter.) What do you feel? An absolute love. What has the baby done to deserve your love? Nothing. What would you sacrifice for the baby? Everything."
This is God.
This is grace.
Stephen Robinson in the book Original Grace by Adam S. Miller
A friend that I work with at the temple recently gave me one of these delicious Werther's Caramel Apple Filled candies. I loved it and bought some at the store. They are so good. When we were tending our grandchildren, we gave them each one. Nine-year-old Gabe put it in his mouth and declared, "This is the way my life was meant to be."
They are that good!
Non-fiction Audiobook
I think mostly because the arrest
happened in my county, I was very interested in the Ruby Franke child abuse
case. It is appalling that a mother could do that to her children. This book was written by her daughter,
Shari. First of all, she (or maybe a
ghost writer?) is an excellent writer.
She tells her story. It is a very
sad story, but very well told. She is
respectful of her family, but speaks out against mommy vlogging and the
damaging effects. But her mother was
abusive long before she started the vlog.
She is a classic narcissist and Jodie Hildebrandt is the devil
incarnate. I am so glad they are both
behind bars and hope they both stay there for a long, long time.
On Sunday morning, we all loaded in the Cameron's van and drove up to Idaho Falls to attend Nathan's mission "farewell."
All of our family came to support him except for Shonna and Blake who were still on their biking adventure. |
I had to snap a few pictures before the meeting began. Proud grandmas can do that. |
Shonna and Blake recently had a marvelous wedding anniversary trip. They did a bike trip from Montreal, Canada to Quebec City, Quebec. They biked a total of 211 miles.
Blake's parents stayed with the kids from Saturday to Wednesday morning. We drove up after Keynotes on Wednesday (arriving there about 6:30pm) and stayed with them Wednesday evening through Sunday night. We had such a wonderful time with these great kids. We love them so much.
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Shonna and Blake sent pictures while on their adventure. |
The lighting caused a blurry picture, but this is the heart with Hannah and Lily in the background. |
Another fun picture of Blake and Shonna. |
Caleb is on the high school mountain biking team. On Saturday, Ken drove him up the mountain to compete in a mountain biking competition. They were gone all day. |
Caleb did really well, improving his time considerably and moving up in his placement. He was so happy when he got home. |
Grandpa was Caleb's cheerleader. He enjoyed the day on the mountain and getting to know Caleb's biking friends. |